I have heard of Nosferatu before and knew it was a vampire story but I never knew the word itself meant vampire in archaic Romanian. When I found out about this assignment I was psyked. I love watching movies and movies with vampires = a good time for me.
(hot vampires)
I didn’t know this version was going to be silent archaic movie though. Bram Stoker wrote a book called “Dracula” and while watching this silent film that’s the only thing I could think of. How similar it was to “Dracula.” There was no suspense whatsoever for me. I knew when he was goings to tie his sheets together to lower himself in the count’s coffin chambers and when he was going to chase the count. No surprises.
The music in this film was a disappointment to me as well. When this film was made in sure there was a pianist at the scene when they were filming it to set the mood ( just like when they filmed the silent films in Singing in the Rain) but never did I think it would be music that was so off. The music didn’t cause fear, or suspense or anything. It was joyful at times when it should have been fearful. It was fearful at times when it should have been humorous. Totally off base.
The biggest disappointment to me in this movies was the ending. I knew it was coming but I was hoping the director did some changes to the classic “Dracula” script. Vampires should not die that easily. Yes they are mythical creatures but shouldn’t that made it so much harder to be killed? This puzzled me. I am extremely excited now to see it live. I am hoping seeing it with real live people will change my mind about majority of the movie.
(sorry for the gore)
I was surprised that Nosferatu meant vampire as well! I agree that the ending was disappointing. Rather than feeling a sense of relief, I shook my head and chuckled at how easily the vampire died. Personally, I think the music added an element that the film was missing due to the lack of words spoken. The music added to how the movements of the actors should be interpreted by the audience, and the emotions the actors were experiencing.
I was disappointed by the movie too. You made a good point about the music being totally off base–it was really strange how it didn’t match up. It was pretty predictable, but I actually hadn’t seen any version of Dracula before this, so I didn’t know the structure of the story, but I could still see where the story was going.
I agree with your statement regarding the music choices. I was driven slightly insane by how out of touch the music was with the plot line at times. It added very little or even distracted the viewer from the overall mood of the film. However, instead of thinking of it as a disappointment or a flaw, think of how the music choices have changed and how much people have learned about movies since.